Our History

Early 19th Century

The development of deep sea trawling and the emergence of sailing trawlers, commonly known as smacks.

1840

Stephen Roach’s son Richard Roach was born. Richard was born into a fishing family with his father a deep sea fisherman.

1840—1860

Much of the railway network was created, providing the means of transporting fish swiftly and cheaply to inland markets. This spurs a massive growth of Hull and Grimsby. In 1840 not more than a dozen small fishing vessels worked out of the Humber but by the later 1870’s more than a thousand smacks sailed out of the estuary and the two ports. The Port of Hull, Grimsby and Yarmouth lay claim to being the biggest fishing ports in the world.

1860

Roach Brothers as we know it today was formed. Richard Roach sailed round from Barking to the Port of Hull and set up in business as a fish dealer with a shop at 63 West Street, Hull.

1870—1880

Saw the development of the boxing fleet system at Hull and Grimsby. Richard saw the opportunity to capitalise on the new system for transporting fish back to port whilst retaining the smacks out at sea to continue fishing.

1874

Richard was by now a fishing smacks owner. One of his first vessels was called Motto which he purchased for £650.
Richard had a son called John William.

1880—1896

During this period Richard amassed a fleet of more than 18 fishing smacks, some of which were more than 70ft in length.

John William joined his father in the family business primarily as a fish dealer as this period was experiencing the demise of the sailing fishing smacks fleets. They also developed the business to include game and poultry. In the same year Bernard Roach was born.

1897

Richard died in 1897 at a time when steam trawlers had emerged to replace the traditional sail. In fact by 1903 the thousand fishing smacks working out of the Humber had all but gone. This brought about a major restructuring of the industry. Before his death Richard pulled out of trawler ownership and sold off his smacks.

Richard left 6 sons (Harry, Joseph, John William, Walter, Albert and Charles) all of whom were by this stage fish dealers in their own right. Although all brothers were in the trade it is clear that not all of them saw eye-to-eye!

1905

Following the death of their father, Joseph and John William joined forces and opened their first unit at Corporation Fields, Hull. The business mainly focused on rabbits and game with shellfish taking priority in the summer months.

1906

John William had a son called Leslie Roach.

1907

Joseph died with no sons to take his place in the business.

John William signs a new 50 year lease at Corporation Fields.

1913

John William (pictured) and Harold Percy joined forces to become the next generation of Roach Bros.

1914

By 1914 Britain has the largest and most advanced fishing industry the world has ever seen. Fish landed at the Humber ports is sold at fishmongers in towns and cities across England and beyond. Hull’s Hessle Road district has probably the largest smokehouse capacity in England.

1914—1918

The Great War. Nearly 3000 trawlers and drifters from all UK fishing ports were requisitioned by the Admiralty and armed to fight. The remainder were required to continue fishing to maintain the nation’s food supply. Altogether over 500 trawlers were lost on Admiralty service or whilst fishing during the war. A large number of people from the Hull fish trade joined either the Navy or the Army during the conflict and many lost their lives.

1922

Leslie joins the family business straight from school at 16 years old having been educated at Hymers College.

1924—1929

Harold Percy died with his son Percy having joined the business in 1924.

1930

Albert Roach died with no family having joined the business.

1931

Leslie had his first son Paul Roach.

1945

John William died and the ownership of the business was now in the hands of Percy, Leslie (pictured) and Bernard.

1952

Paul joined the family business after 2 years conscription in Egypt. Paul was more than familiar with the fishing trade having worked on trawlers after leaving Hymers College at the age of 15. This must have been quite the culture shock!

1953

The business had been focused on rabbits and game during the past few decades with shellfish taking priority during the summer months. However with the outbreak of myxomatosis, the rabbit trade was effectively killed off overnight. The Roach Bros went back to their roots and began concentrating on shellfish, in particularly crabs. This proved to be a very shrewd move!

Paul Roach had his first son Adrian Paul Roach.

1956

Paul left Roach Bros after only 4 years working in the family business, as quote, “his family members would not pay him a proper wage!” Some things don’t change!!

1957

The 50 year lease at Corporation Fields expired and the land was redeveloped for Northern Foods Head Office (now the site is home to the St Stephens Shopping Centre).

Roach Bros purchased a freehold property at 54—56 Manchester Street, Hull. This was formerly two terraced houses with back brick chimney holes for smoking.

In the same year Paul had his second son Robert Leslie Roach.

1960—1970

The business expanded during these years by concentrating on crabs purchased from Scotland, Northumberland, Whitby, Scarborough and Bridlington which were boiled and packed ready for distribution.

In 1966 Paul rejoined the family business at its new premises in Manchester Street after a 10 year absence.

1972

Adrian joined the family business after training as an accountant at one of the city’s accountancy practices.

1975

Manchester Street was compulsorily purchased by the council.

Percy and Bernard both left the business and Robert joined.

1978

Leslie Roach died early in the New Year. On 3rd February Roach Bros moved into a new 6,000 sq ft purpose built factory at Havelock Street, Hull costing £40,000 to build. The business purchased the freehold title from the council in the same year. Leslie never saw the business move into its new premises which it is still in today (albeit after several major extensions and refurbishments!) despite the major significance he made to the procurement of Havelock Street.

1979—1982

The business at this time was 100% crabs and the new generation could see that so much of the firm’s resources were being wasted. In the winter months the lack of crabs meant the factory remained idle. Adrian and Robert, with guidance from their father Paul, introduced a complete new range of fish to keep the factory occupied. This included smoked mackerel cutlets and fillets, Scotch and Canadian boneless kippers, Dutch roll-mops and scampi. The smoked fish at that time was smoked by a local curer who packed into Roach Bros fish boxes. By the end of 1982 the business employed 20 staff.

As this new division of the business started expanding, the business purchased its first 5 stone kiln for smoking. Roach Bros has produced smoked mackerel and herring ever since!

1983

After only 1 year of smoking, the business saw the growth potential in the market and had essentially outgrown the 5 stone kiln. They invested in two AFOS kilns which would open the doors to much greater sales opportunities.

1984

Adrian’s son Marcus Adrian Paul Roach was born (on the same day as his father’s birthday, 21st June).

During the same year the business started supplying WM Morrison who at that point was a Northern retailer with 25 stores. We supplied them on a daily basis with Hot Smoked Mackerel and Kippers.

WM Morrisons joined an impressive customer list at that time including Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s amongst a few taking Hot Smoked Mackerel and kippers for their wet fish counters. With hundreds of other wholesalers and retailers around the country served on a daily basis.

1985

Roach Bros (Curers) Ltd was formed. The business had previously been a partnership, but as the business was now flourishing, limited liability protection was advised.

1985—1990

This period saw significant growth for the national retailers with significant store openings. Many of whom simply outgrew Roach Bros. The introduction of technical departments and competitive pricing brought about new challenges for the business. Nevertheless throughout this period we developed a very close relationship with WM Morrisons, which prompted the first major factory extension doubling the capacity of the factory to 12,000 sq ft.

1992

Paul retired and left the business in the hands of Adrian and Robert. The first order of business was to sponsor the local rugby team, Hull Ionians RUFC!

1994

The requirement for segregation between raw and cooked product meant further major renovation work to the entire interior of the factory with new dedicated Wet Side, Low Risk and High Risk departments.

1996

The German retailer, Aldi started listing our Hot Smoked Mackerel Fillets. Their 44 stores were predominately based in the South of England.

1998

Saw the introduction of the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety and Roach Bros are proud to have worked to these high standards every year since.

2003

2004

WM Morrisons takeover of Safeway created the UK's fourth largest supermarket with the enlarged group operating over 550 stores. We supplied every store every day.

2005

Built an extension to the offices effectively doubling the size of the canteen and office facilities and provided increased production space in the Low Risk department.

2006

Adrian Roach spent 15 days on a trawler in Iceland. A taste of his father’s and ancestors’ experiences at sea!

2007

Centenary Club formed. John Townend retired as a Conservative MP and organised an annual dinner for all businesses over 100 years old in the Hull and East Riding area. A total of 16 businesses attended.

2008

Started supplying Aldi Ireland.

2010

6th generation Roach, Marcus joined the business after qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor and becoming a member of the RICS.

2013

A further major extension to the Wet Side is completed adding a further 1,200 sq ft, making space for a new defrosting unit.

September 2015

Roach Bros are pleased to announce their purchase of 23-25 Havelock Street with a view to redeveloping the site. We intend to add a small extension onto our existing factory to create more space giving us scope to increase production volumes.

April 2016

Following the purchase of 2 adjacent properties, Roach Bros completed demolition works to create a significant new yard area. In addition to the new increased yard space, this facilitated the opportunity to extend the existing Wet Side production area to form a new hygiene room, where a new automated tray wash and trolley wash will be sited.

October 2016

After 32 years of producing quality Smoked Kippers, production was ceased on 18 October in order for the business to concentrate on producing Smoked Mackerel products.

March 2017

The former Low Risk production area was redeveloped to form a new state of the art High Risk production area, with positive air pressure and fully compliant with all BRC Standards. This additional space will facilitate the anticipated growth in Mackerel sales.

April 2017

In addition to the new High Risk production facility, a new kiln was commissioned and the former cold smoke kiln transformed into a hot smoking kiln. Again to facilitate the expected growth in mackerel sales.

June 2017

Robert Roach retired from Roach Bros having been at the ‘cold face of the business’ for 42 years! We wish Robert well in his retirement and thank him for all his hard work, dedication and passion for the business. Edward Gilbert also retired as a director of Roach Bros (Curers) Ltd.

July 2017

Following the retirement of Robert Roach, a company re-structure was implemented with Adrian Roach taking the role of Chairman, Marcus Roach Managing Director and the appointment of Mike Hookem as a director.

February 2018

Roach Bros completed an extension to the offices, forming a new Low Risk production changing room capable of facilitating increased staffing number, a new reception area, training room, boardroom and first floor offices to allow space for growth of office staff and the business.